I’ve had several people request a whatever happened to episode of the Chicago Band
Urge Overkill. While the band was labelled alternative rock theh band emerged from Chicago
in the late 1980's and early 90’s looking and sounding very different from what was popular.
its members' wore giant medallions and velvet shirts, they actually had a sense
of humor and. Instead of being influenced by joy division or Wire they paid homage to jimmy web,
hot chocolate and neil diamond. Today we’re going to explore the history of the band.
Founding members Vocalists and guitarists Nash Kato and Eddie “King” Roeser
both grew up in Minnesota, but they wouldn’t meet until years later in 1985 when both attended
Chicago’s Northwestern University. Before he was known as Nash Kato he was born Nathan Katruud.
Growing up to norwegian parents in the racially mixed south side of Minnesota
Nathan’s father would be a lutheran minister who introduced him to funk music and gospel choirs.
Roeser meanwhile was a child of 70’s AM radio including Paul MccRtney and wings, and badfinger.
In 1981 Roeser followed in his parents footsteps going to Chicago’s Northwestern in 1981 where
he would meet producer Steve Albini and Lyle Preslar with whom he was roomates with. Preslar
had previously played in the hardcore D.C punk band Minor Threat. They’d go on to be part of
the DIY straight edge punk movement. Initially Kato started a short lived band with Preslar,
but it was clear their approach to music was drastically different. Kato would tell Forbes
“Lyle and I originally were going to start a band. He was in Minor Threat and they broke up
because he went to NU. But we were going to start this band and it ended when I asked him, ‘Hey,
what are we gonna wear?’ And he was like, ‘What the f—k are you talking about?’ I went, ‘Well,
you know, we have to wear something on stage...’ I was thinking suits - because of the whole funk
thing. And then he transferred and I hooked up with Eddie and we started [Urge Overkill].
They would add drummer Pat Byrne,One of the band’s first fans would be Steve Albini who
acted the producer for the group’s debut EP Strange I in 1986 which was put out on
the producer’s Ruthless label, which was then followed by their first full length
album 1989’s Jesus Urge Superstar and 1990’s Americruiser and 1991’s supersonic storybook..
Their releases during this period would be put out on chicago label touch and go records.
Urge overkill would get the name from the lyrics from a Parliment song.
The band soon became known for their flamboyant and flasgyt image and humor which was part of
their whole package. It was common site for the band to show up to those early
gigs wearing clown pants and top hats and oversized matching wide-lapel suits, gold
medallions, all-white jumpsuits. The band soon adopted a new look wearing all-white jumpsuits.
The band seemed to stay away from flannel, denim or leather, staples of rock performers.
Roeser would tell the LA Times the purpose of dressing up like that saying “We were trying to
shock people,”. “I mean, for all the supposed ‘punk rock’ that was going on in Chicago,
the bands all dressed like cops. They all had the crew cuts, the black T-shirts, the boots,
and they all looked the same. I thought, ‘This is punk? This is think-for-yourself? We’re gonna
really bum some people out and, like, wear flippers onstage. The band would admittingly
construct their outfits from the racks of thrift stores like Amvets (am-vets pronounce not AM).
The band’s sound was hard to nail down being described as being Rolling Stone
infused sound arena rock pop and punk. Others likened them to the Beatles or the Cheap Trick
of the 90’s alternative rock generations or as spin described them ‘something new,
something borrowed and something blue oyster cult’
It was along the way they changed drummers bringing in long-time fan
John Rowan around who would later become known as Blackie Hollywood and finally Blackie Onasis
joined the group in 1989. Onassis grew up as John Rowan in Beverly. He got into rock
drumming with a neighborhood basement band and eventually fell into the local rock scene when
he moved to the north side. He answered a Reader ad and wound up in Friends of Betty,
now Red Red Meat, but he also amusedly followed the course of a pair of soi-disant rock royalty
who called themselves National Kato and King Roeser.He would tell the chicago
tribune in 1993 “when i went to see them play i flipped out they were the most flamboyant
thing in town wearing bizarre makeup and playing arena rock at places like
batteries not included for like 7 people, 4 of whom were in the opening band.”Onassis
would tell his new bandmates at the time Dont make any apologies for what you’re doing and
don’t worry what your friends in hard-core bands thing. This is a great gag lets run with it. “
Soon enough Onasis became known as the de-facto spokesperson for the band.
The band got a lot of attention from Spin Magazine during the early 90’s before they
were signed to a major label touting them as the next big thing and comparing their 1990 album
Americruiser as and i quote “a punk rock version of ZZ Top’s eliminator”. Despite all the hype,
the band nearly called it quits. Rock was feeling stale by 1990-1991 and Kato would admit to Spin
“We were ready to throw in the towel. There was no concrete manifestation or any demand for rock.
Nobody wanted to hear it anymore. We were like we’re in the wrong business and then out of the
blue nirvana picked us up.” he would say and Kato wasn’t speaking metaphorically or figuratively. By
the end of 1991 Nirvana’s second record Nevermind was on the verge of displacing
michael jackson from the album charts and Nirvana would take urge overkill out on the road with them
through Europe and the midwest. It proved to be the biggest favour anybody had done for them.
According to the chicago tribune While the band was on tour in Italy with nirvana,
Onassis and Kato took a long walk with frontman Kurt Cobain who told the group
not to lose their fashion gag and to sign to geffen. That’s exactly what they did.
Record labels were eager to sign any band that sounded like or was connected to Nirvana. The
band in 1992 inked a deal with Geffen after being discovered by talent scout Mio Vukovic Vukovic
would tell the chicago tribune “They have this fun fascination with the period from 1967 to 173 when
things were both at their cheesiest and at their coolest. It’s like las vegas meets star trek.”
Not everyone was happy though with the band’s move to a major label.
Allegedly the move resulted in bitter feelings between steve albini and the band. Albini would
claim that the band promised in handshake deal to have him produce their next album
and put it out on touch and go records.
Signing with geffen afforded the band the ability to work with a variety of different
producers. Their previous experiences most notably with Steve Albini left a sour taste
in teh group’s mouth with Onassis would telling the batlirmore sun "A lot of producers have such
a dogmatic style," "They want things to sound one way -- their way -- because their name is
going on the record…"And at the smaller-label level, you have more egomaniacs, because people
are trying to make a name for themselves. But in the end, your music should be what you want it to
sound like." "He (referring to Albini) had done a record for us before. He basically took our songs
and gave them his sound, and none of us were happy with it. That was 'Jesus Urge Superstar.'
"So when we came back to do 'Supersonic Storybook,' he tried to do it again,
and we were like: 'No. We're going to keep the guitars clean,
we're going to keep the vocals loud, and we're going to put some bass in
the mix.' He got all ticked off. At the end, he took his name off the record."
It would result in Albini and the band bickering in the press. Albini would refer to the band as
“spoiled children” and “a sad comedy” according to spin magazine. Albini wasn’t the only one angry
at the band as the there soon was a backlash in Chicago against the group with a fan-zine called
The Stalker, which took it’s name from a song on Urge Overkill’s 1993 debut record for Geffen
Saturation. The Stalker was - was an anti-fanzine for anti-fans of overkill as spin magazine would
put it. The publication took glee in mocking the band. Ironically the publisher of the
fan-zine who has her own alias like the members of Urge Overkill and goes by the name Babb B
printed 5000 copies per month. On top of that she would frequently go out in Chicago dressed
up as Kato. The band seemed to brush off the lady as off her rocker and Despite the bad blood with
some in their homebase, they would find an ally and friend in fellow chicago native liz phair.
The band’s humor also meant they had some big balls with Vukovic recalling a tour
the band did around 92 or 93 where they played a predominantly black neighbourhood in LA recalling
“Nash looked like keith richards in 1969 with bell-bottoms, medallion and
blue tinted sunglasses. You coulv’e bumped into him in a shaft movie. There was this
black couple sitting at a table and the girl looked up at him and said you look groovy.
Nash would pull his sunglasses down and wink at her and walk away
with vukovic adding he’s the only white man alive who could get away with that and not get killed.
The band would deliver their final recording for Touch and Go an EP named Stull.
Roeser would tell Spin where the EP’s name came from saying“Stull is a town in kansas
that’s supposed to be the geographical center of the US. It’s nothing but a cemetery and an
old burnt out church. About 60 people live there and it’s a really frightening place.
Supposedly it’s some kind of cult place for satanists one of the seven gates of hell.
The EP would contain a cover of Neil Diamond “Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon.”
The band’s cover would be included in the quentin tarentino film pulp fiction in the
scene in which Uma Thurman’s character has an unfortunate run-in with some high-powered heroin
So where did the idea of neil diamond cover come from: Well the band were fans of neil diamond
and would talk to billboard magazine where roeser would tell the publication “We didn’t record the
song for the movie at all. Recording it for the Stull EP was really a spur of the moment decision.
We were at our producer Kramer’s house looking through his record collection and we got into
playing this tune. Apparently quentin tarentino knew of us and picks all the music for his movies.
He discussed it with Uma Thurman who dances to the song in the movie and she was like i love it.
It would be by chance the band came on quentin tarrentino’s radar as the director was in england
and came across the six-song EP while at a record store. The band’s cover would peak at
number 11 on the billboard rock charts by teh end of 1994 thanks to the movie and received
significantly play on mtv. The band would end up meeting neil diamond himtelling billboard
“They came to meet me backstage at one of my shows in chicago. I looked at their clothes and i maybe
wrong, but i was wearing something similar when i wrote that song.”
HE would go on to wish the band luck telling them to leave room at the top for him.”
The group/s first release for Geffen 1993’s “Saturation” saw them enlist : the Butcher
Brothers as producers. It was a strange choice given that they had most famously worked with rap
act cypress hill at the time. , Onassis would reveal the reason behind the decision saying.
“The Butcher Brothers are jacks-of-all-trades,”. “They’re not hung up on a specific sound,
the way a lot of producers are. ‘Saturation’ sounded extra-produced because we wanted it
to sound that way. But we knew that they could give us almost a live-demo quality
if that’s what we were going for. I mean, they’ve done everything from hard rock to
hip-hop to Top 40. They’re not stuck in one mode.” The band also didn’t want to emulate
as they put it Nirvana wannabe sounds with Onassis telling the chicago tribune
“Cypress hill and public enemy are putting out better rock n’ roll records than 99 percent of
the nirvana type bands. That’s why we came to philly to make this record. Philly has a vibe -
soul, rap,. Ruffhouse, the butcher brothers. The Butcher brothers though weren’t sold on the idea
of working with the band initially but it wasn’t until they realized the band had an interesting
sense of arrangement and charm to their songs that they agreed to take on the project. The success of
pulp fiction and it’s soundtrack coupled with the band’s Saturation coming out around the same time
propelled the band’s sales and resulted in the band’ssingles sister havana and
positive bleeding getting airplay on both mtv and
rock radio. Billboard magazine would interview a fellow named joel oberstein who was the general
manager of temp music and video in simi valley who stated “chalk up another success story to quentin
tarintino. THey’ve been a great band for years, but it took quentin to show everyone.”. By 1993
Chicago appeared to be the new hotbed of alternative rock with one exception from seattle
Onasis telling the LA Times “There’s a lot of attfention being paid to Chicago
suddenly. But you still can’t put a label on the Chicago sound. I mean, think of the bands
that have come out of there in the past few years. Veruca Salt’s music is like a polar
opposite to what Smashing Pumpkins are doing.” Adds Roeser: “Chicago is a big city with a lot of
things to do and places to play--without being New York or L.A., where you can be under a microscope
during your first show. You’re not that isolated in Chicago, but you’re isolated enough. So you can
sort of labor in obscurity a little more.” Unlike the alternative rock acts who were
popular in the early 90’s Urge Overkill had a sense of humor, had stage names had put a lot
of thought into their stage attire didn’t take themselves too seriously didn’t chase trends and
they didn’t have one principal songwriter with Onassis would tell Spin “We are for the ladies.
Our self-confidence is at a level where we don’t have to prove our masculinity with any bogus
caveman grunts” It was a far cry from the popular bands at the time who hailed from teh west coast
be it seattle or LA with Kato adding “We do rock out, but we’re about writing good
songs first and foremost. A lot of bands seem afraid to show that they have more
emotions than anger. We are not afraid. ” Robert Smith, head of marketing at Geffen
Records, is confident that Urge’s days of laboring in obscurity are over. LA Times
“Urge Overkill has been around a lot longer than most people realize,” Smith notes,
“and I think these guys have an acute awareness of the musical culture around them. They have
a wealth of talent as songwriters that isn’t dependent on any one trend, and I think they’ve
been ahead of the times for years. And now pop music is finally catching up with them.”
The group would put out their follow up album for Geffen 1995’s. For Urge Overkill the release
represented a low point in the member’s personal relationship. Kato and Roeser They weren’t even
on talking terms recording their parts in separate studios. Adding to the tension was
Onnassis escalating drug use, something he’d find himself in handcuffs for by the end of the year.
Comparatively speaking it was definitely a darker album.
The band’s tour to support their final album of the 90’s saw them run into
trouble with their opening act guided by voices. The band would drop off the tour
after one of Urge Overkill’s roadies and security personalle beat up the groups frontman
after they attempted to perform an encore. Despite losing guided by voices, the band’s
tour was hampered by other problems most notably playing to half empty venues and slow ticket sales
resulting in the group scrapping the dates and the arrest of onassis over drug possessions
charges by the end of 1995 . A spokesperson for the band would tell Spin that the members instead
wanted to be home for the holidays. The poor album sales, in-fighting and Blackie Onassis
heroin addiction resulted in the band combusting. Roesser would tell Rolling Stone Urge Overkill had
the positive energy of the Monkees — an ‘All for one, one for all’ type thing,” says Roeser. “We
had songs that were serious, heartfelt rock, but the spirit of the thing was good times.
Towards the end, when tensions in the band were overwhelming, the spirit of that became
a sham. It was dishonest to continue.” Four years after The Smashing Pumpkins,
Liz phair and urge overkill shot to popularity the band called it quits in the summer of 1997. T
After going solo Roesser and Nash would eventually reunite in 2004
with Roeser telling Rolling Stone “I couldn’t go to a show without ten people coming up and saying,
‘You guys have to get back together,'” The band wouldn’t reunite with Onnassis with
Roeser telling Rolling Stone “he hasn’t proven himself to be a model citizen.” Ten years had
passed and bands like The White Stripes, the Hives WIth the band’s reunion they would tone down their
flamboyant style with Roeser telling Rolling Stone “We became tired of it,” sThe more we did it, the
more people focused on that. It was like, maybe you’ve noticed, but we can write songs. Now we
just hit the stage in the tradition of James Brown and some of the soul groups, where you look sharp,
but it’s not a big yuk-yuk, wink-wink thing.” The band would tour in the years that followed
and put out two albums since reforming including 2011- Rock N’ ROll Submarine and this year’s Oui.
They would also appear as the musical guest at the roast of director quentin tarrentino.